Specialists in Aquatic Research and Training

OUR TEAM

The FRC is a dynamic team of committed and passionate professionals with a diverse range of skills in the aquatic sciences with advanced degrees and years of experience between them. Our common ambition is to deliver relevant science of the highest standard and to become a leading and authoritative source of information in the field.

Helen has over 27 years’ experience working on and leading collaborative research projects on the ecology, conservation and management of aquatic ecosystems in southern Africa. She holds a PHD from the University of Cape Town (UCT) where her freshwater career …Continue reading →

Bruce has 15 years of experience in aquatic ecology. Bruce’s main area of interest and expertise is in understanding the links between the biological and physical components of river systems and the implications this has for their management. He has …Continue reading →

Jenny joined our Board of Directors in 2017. She has over 35 years’ experience in the field of aquatic ecology and the conservation and management of aquatic ecosystems. The biology of freshwater crustaceans has always been of particular interest and …Continue reading →

Jeremy has 10 years of experience working in the field of freshwater ecology. The main thrust of his research is on understanding the consequences of species invasions for stream community structure and function, and he is passionate about conserving threatened …Continue reading →

Marycke Roche joined our Board of Directors in 2017. She is a Chartered Accountant and will be taking on the financial director function. Marycke graduated as a CA (SA) in 1991. She has been running her own practice since 1996 …Continue reading →

Christy’s expertise lies in the conservation and development field, and she is particularly interested in facilitating inter-sectoral adaptation solutions in complex systems. Her experience in South Africa has been around community involvement in natural resource use, conservation, fundraising, multi-partner project …Continue reading →

Justine Ewart-Smith is a Cape Town based consultant and researcher with 18 years of experience in freshwater ecology, ranging from specialist input into biomonitoring, strategic environmental assessments and situation assessments, to environmental flow studies both locally and abroad. Justine was …Continue reading →

Dean has more than 15 years of experience working on inland water ecosystems, both as a researcher and a consultant. He holds an MPhil degree in Environmental Science from the University of Cape Town and an MSc degree in Ecological …Continue reading →

Kate has 19 years of experience in the field of freshwater ecology (both as a researcher and specialist consultant) and environmental consulting (including environmental auditing and waste management). Her specialist skills lie in the areas of freshwater macro-invertebrate identification and …Continue reading →

James Dabrowski holds a PhD from the University of Cape Town and was previously employed as a Specialist Scientist by the Department of Water and Sanitation and as a Principal Researcher by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), …Continue reading →

Nick is an aquatic ecologist with 15 years of professional experience in this field. After completing a PhD in Hydrology at the University of Natal (Pietermaritzburg) in 2003, he went on to a post-doctorate at the Institute for Water Research …Continue reading →

Although Heather’s post-graduate training was in plant physiology, she has worked for the past 15 years on the management of water quality with a view to sustaining functional aquatic ecosystems. She is fascinated by the impacts of pollutants on the …Continue reading →

Tumisho is formally qualified with a BTech Degree in Nature Conservation and is registered with SACNASP as a candidate of natural scientist. He has intermediate working experience in wetland consulting in basic wetland assessments, wetland delineation, alien invasive and indigenous …Continue reading →

Pashni’s career began over 25 years ago in the Chemistry lab when she joined Umgeni Water in KwaZulu-Natal, and has gain immense knowledge and experience in her field. She started in water pollution control, then moved from the microbiology lab …Continue reading →

Jeanette has 12 years experience in various environmental management projects which incorporate the ethos of Integrated Environmental Management, where processes and decisions are based on the inter-relatedness of all environmental elements. This approach understands that ecosystems comprise natural, social and …Continue reading →

Toni obtained her BSc in Environmental and Geographical Sciences in 2014 at the University of Cape Town. She went on to study her Honours in Biological Sciences at UCT and graduated in 2015. Toni then enrolled in the DST-NRF internship …Continue reading →

Jody studied at the University of Cape Town, graduating in 2012 with a BSc in Zoology, Ecology, and Environmental and Geographical Science. During her undergraduate degree she also worked for the Freshwater Consulting Group as a field assistant to Dr …Continue reading →

Pfananani obtained his junior degree (Geography, 2010) and Environmental Science Honours degree (2011) from University of Venda. His journey with FRC started in 2012 when he enrolled for MSc in Hydrology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal under the supervision of …Continue reading →

Nonkanyiso is a Professional Natural Scientist (Pr.Sci.Nat) registered with SACNASP. She is currently a PHD candidate at the University of Cape Town doing research on the potential impact of climate change on freshwater macroinvertebrate species. She is supervised by Dr …Continue reading →

Keir Lynch obtained his National Diploma in Nature Conservation at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. He worked for several years in natural resource management and conservation in the private sector, before completing his BTech in Nature Conservation with the Cape …Continue reading →

Originating from Johannesburg, Mohammed obtained his BSc degree at the University of Cape Town in Marine Biology and Applied Biology in 2014. He then went on to complete his Honours degree in Marine Biology the following year. Mohammed then undertook …Continue reading →

Lily obtained her BSc in Marine Biology and Ocean & Atmosphere Science in 2014 at the University of Cape Town. She went on to study Honours in Biological Science at UCT and graduated in 2015. Lily enrolled in the DST-NRF …Continue reading →

Terriann Thavar is highly passionate about environmental conservation. She is originally from KwaZulu-Natal and chose to pursue a degree in the Western Cape to broaden her knowledge of Cape Floristic Region biodiversity. She obtained her BSc in Biodiversity and Conservation …Continue reading →

Melandri Rafferty is highly passionate about environmental conservation and the impact of threatened freshwater ecosystems on the well-being of communities. She is originally from the Eastern Cape and chose the Western Cape to further her studies as it provided more …Continue reading →

Janette Lumley joined FRC in 2018 as the office administrator. She has over 12 years’ experience in various roles including website maintenance, data capturing, bookkeeping, accounting software, software development and she also owned her own small business for 5 years. …Continue reading →